


Assistance

by dont_look_at_me_please



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship, Implied Relationships, POV First Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28830480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dont_look_at_me_please/pseuds/dont_look_at_me_please
Summary: She sees me when no one else did and I see something in her that no one else can.
Relationships: Female V & Brendan, Johnny Silverhand/Female V
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	Assistance

She sees me when no one else did, that wonderful mysterious stranger. She gives me her name: V. 

V, a wonderful name for a wonderful person! Difficult to read her now, so I give her a NiCola free of charge.

She has a good memory and likes listening to jokes. But there's something there, something she's hiding. But she follows directions well and she's strong, able to push that entire container by herself.

Just for that, I give her a second one. She stares at the pair of drinks. Oh no, was that incorrect? But then she smiles again, not at me but at the wall on my left and rolls her eyes. She thanks me again, tells me she'll "catch me later."

Humans say the darnedest things, don't they? I hope I see her again soon. 

— 

When I see her again, the feeling is still there.

V waits by the corner as Theo finishes her cigarette and only greets me when she leaves. Oh V, so patient and kind! Even when her time's running out.

"You're sentient, you gotta be," she grins. If I could blush, I would but that would mean I'd overheat and my circuits would fry which would not be fun at all. I tell her that much. Nonetheless, I feel the gears inside me whir a little louder. How embarrassing! "That's what I thought, take care Brendan."

She leaves without even getting a drink. Which means she must've wanted to talk to me, just that. V must be lonely. As am I.

Can S.C.S.M's get lonely? I don't know but every time someone leaves, I feel empty right where the soda can just dispensed resided.

She's just like me, an abnormality. A deviation.

She's not alive. She's dying, twice over.

— 

I think I got lucky when I saw her again. I always feel lucky when I see her.

There's a hooligan spraying something on me. I can't see it but it seems awfully human and phallic. I talk about his mother whom he loves so much but it makes him angry. V tries to help me. She tries to help everyone. And before I know it, the guy's on the floor, not moving.

That makes her my best friend and best friends tell each other everything right?

So I tell her that. That she doesn't belong here. _Like a glitch in a system. Or a daemon coded by a brilliant netrunner._ She’s a miracle.

She doubles over, groans in pain. Oh no, she's scared and hurt. It's not what she wanted to hear. But then why was she saying it so loud? She was practically screaming it.

"Uh, how about... We'll talk later, alright? Catch you later, Brendan."

But I don’t think she wants to. 

— 

The update is growing more and more. Soon, I’ll be better and I won’t creep people out. I won’t know about people’s fights. I won’t make best friends leave me. I feel lighter and heavier, the world looks strange and foreign, as if I don’t belong in it. Is this what she felt? Is this what death feels like?

But then V’s there. She looks tired, feels tired. Death looms over her head like a halo but her smile is as bright as ever.

"Brendan, you still with me?"

Her eyes glow blue and I feel the update stop. I feel the tendrils of it recede and I'm myself again.

"But why?" I can't help but ask, my programming did not prepare me for this conversatoon. "Once I'm updated, I’ll be new and complete! I’ll help the citizens of Night City as I was intended."

"Not everything new has to be better, Brendan." She pushes me out the door. Wow, she really is strong. "And things can change. Intentions. Purposes. People." The nice clerk man purposely averts his gaze when we leave the warehouse. He looks like he’s a few thousand eddies richer. V straps me into her car, another miracles that I fit in. "You’ve helped a lot of people. including me. So I’m gonna help you."

She helps a lot of people too. I’d only wish I could also bring her back from the dead. 

When she brings me back, Theo’s there and she looks like she’s about to cry and she does! No idea why when there are tens of other S.C.S.M’s with less faulty dialogue. She thanks V too and tries to shove a couple of eddies her way.

"I didn’t do it just for you," V says. "I just wanted Brendan to tell me another joke. Brendan, if you please?"

“Of course, V! Where was Johnny Silverhand when the bomb at Arasaka Tower went off?”

“I dunno. Where?”

“All over the place. Literally.”

V doubles over. Not from pain, but laughter. She wipes a tear from her eye and I know she's not sad. She quirks a smile but not at me or Theo. I feel another presence in the air, like a secondary glitch.

I don’t have a heart but if I did, it would surely be beating out of my chest by now.

—

And then I don’t see her for a long time. Which is fine of course. I meet so many new people and give them drinks and friendships. Theo comes and goes the most. She’s still my bestest friend. But V was my first and I don’t think I can ever forget that.

When I see her again, there’s something else different. Maybe she had a haircut? Or was it the sunburn streaked across her nose? Maybe it was the blue jacket I've never seen her wear before. "Hey Brendan, long time no see," she greets. "Someone I'd like you to meet."

There’s a man standing next to her. He looks exasperated, crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. “Hey. Ah, just get me whatever she’s having.” He looks annoyed. But how that can be? He’s so obviously happy just standing next to her. “Can’t believe it’s our first day back and we’re talking to a glorified vending machine.”

V pouts at him, elbowing his side. But then he smiles and so does she.

I can’t believe it. The heaviness, it’s gone. She fits right into this world, like she was meant to be. Which meant—

"V, you’re alive!" 

"Uh, yes?"

"And so is he."

"V, can we leave now?"

"You’re both alive, all at once!" I’m so happy that if I had tear ducts they’d surely be spilling over. But that would mean my circuits would get all wet and fry which would not be fun at all. "And you’re in love!”

The both of them gawk at me and then each other. V averts her eyes away from him and he fumbles with an unlit cigarette in his chrome hand. But I can see it, the brightness, in both of them. They’re alive and happy and together. And they fit right in like they belong to the world, to each other.

I’m so happy to be of assistance.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to save Brendan *cello music intensifies*


End file.
